West Richland Auto Repair

***, I reprinted the invoice from history, our software tracks all phone authorizations and at the bottom of the invoice it states “Authorized by – [redacted] , ***, Date – 7/14/2015, Time – 3:PM, Initiated By – Shop,” We rarely do work without authorization and as a result of this complaint will review the practice Let me explain, we have several customers that just want their vehicles repaired and hand us the keys and tell us to fix it and not bother them with the details The other occasion that I allow a vehicle to be repaired without authorization, is when a disabled vehicle is tying up a bay and we’re not able to reach the owner, if it is a low cost repair that keeps us from having to push a vehicle multiple times Again it is rare, the longer that I’m in business the more I understand why there are so many rules, I have a C’s rule that I instill in all my employees it is, it must be good for the Customer, good for the Car and good for the Company If in fact we repaired your vehicle without authorization you are entitled to a full refund, that is the law I hope my small town shop never has to cross all our T’s and dot all our I’s, so to speak As to your concern about documentation there was a very detailed invoice created I cannot explain why you would not have a copy, as standard operating procedure we print it out and present it to you when we collect payment I can print it and mail it to you if you like, or E-mail it to you We have a very comprehensive quality control procedure that we perform after the repairs are completed but we cannot check every system on the vehicle It would be very unusual for any repair facility to test the cruise control and emergency flasher after a repair for no-startIn our phone conversations I offered to personally look into those items for you I’m not just an owner but a Certified Master Technician and have been for plus years A very good point was brought to my attention, in this whole mess, we in the industry use the words new, remanufactured, rebuilt, synonymously and I will work on that Fortunately the Shop Management Software we use clarifies it on the invoice, as long as the materials are ordered electronically I do not understand, in this day and age, why there are consumers out there that think any business just makes up prices We use the #shop management software, it does all the calculations and pricing for us It bases everything on our cost of doing business and prices everything to allow us a small profit, currently less than 10% We are not a non-profit, we pay huge amounts, in taxes, every month for the privilege to be in business My efforts to correct this problem have been extensive, internal procedures that I’m not going to go into detail hereI will say people like this ruin everything for everybody, it’s people like this that have forced society to overwhelm us with rules Yes, we make mistakes Yes our small town way of doing business is not for everyoneI’m sorry Mr [redacted] had a bad experience with my shop We have grown so fast that I cannot monitor every job that comes through here, I do however randomly pull invoices and call customers to ensure this experience is infrequent or non-existent At this point I am closing this matter, as I feel there is nothing left for me to do, but be aware that you should hold yourself to the same high standards you expect from us Sincerely, Jamie H [redacted]

Since this complaint was filed nearly months after the repair, I will do the best I can to recall all the pertinent details
Vehicle arrived in a disassembled state, as if the owner was trying to fix it himself, and was inoperable. The technician received the repair order with the symptoms
“DIAGNOcrank no start, also the interior lights and radio do not work when this happens.” The technician performed testing and found the starter to be the cause of the no-start condition
According to documentation in our shop management system the diagnostics and starter repair of $was authorized by the customer on 7/14/at 3:pm
This generation of GM vehicles uses shims to adjust starter for proper operation and past unpleasant experiences installing aftermarket re-manufactured starters has led us to have the original starter locally re-manufactured and avoid time consuming adjustments
The starter was removed on 7/15/and taken to a starter specialty shop in Kennewick, WA, for rebuilding. The shop called later that day and we picked it up and installed it back in the vehicle. The vehicle was operational at that point. The technician then inspected the other concerns, on the vehicle, and found the radio to be unplugged from the fuse box, it was reconnected and the radio worked
The final bill came in at $292.82, the truck was now operational and the customers concerns were addressed
This has been explained in great detail to the customer by me personally, the complaint is factually incorrect and is offensive as we are an honest company that works very hard for our customers
The truck left operational and the most likely cause of his cruise control not working would be his attempt at repairing the vehicle himself

Revdex.com,I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I have attached the email chain that occurred between the business owner and myself.  I have never spoken with him outside of phone or email.  As my email says, I was going to just let the incident go, but after overhearing other dissatisfied customers,  I felt if no one reported these incidents then the business would continue to act in this manner.  There was no deceit in my complaint, and the business owner never produced a detailed bill for me.  There was no documentation to confirm anything that was done.  
As far as the truck being taken apart, that is a stretch.  The gauge panel cover was removed for visual inspection of any wires that could have been loose or burned.  No attempt outside of that was made to repair the vehicle and the radio was never an issue for me, but the cruise control and emergency flashers were.  Considering the business owners position on how extensive his repairs were, you would have thought that he checked those things before sending the truck back.  
Point blank, the starter was sent off before asking and then replaced and nothing else was done.  I was told that nothing could be found electrically wrong with the truck at 445pm, then at 545pm, I was told that the starter had been identified as the problem and a new one installed.  The replacement was not authorized and when I came in and asked for documentation to prove a new starter was installed, the business LIED to me and it was only when I inspected the starter and verified it was not new and not my original starter, did the business admit that they had it rebuilt.  The owner brings up a good point about using new and reman starters, but shouldn't he have got authorization from the owner before choosing to get the starter rebuilt and he should have definitely NOT marked up the starter 100% of the rebuild cost and billed it as a NEW one.  That is dishonest and the only reason my bill was lowered from $371 to $292 is because the business owner was unavailable to handle the situation and the technician, Shane, just wanted to do something after being caught in the middle of a situation that is obviously an everyday practice.  The money is not the issue at all, I don't need any money in return.  The ethics of the business is the issue and after acknowledging the fact that I was lied to and repairs were made without authorization, Mr. H[redacted] has still never made any effort to correct the situation, not even an apology.  When I called him two days later because my truck would not start, it took him hours to respond and after giving him my address, he never showed up to look at the truck.  Please explain that.Regards,[redacted]

Revdex.com,I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.Per your response Jamie, if you "repaired my vehicle without my authorization, then you are entitled to a full refund, by law," so, please explain what the problem is.  Per your own email, you stated that you received "authorization on July 14, at 3:29pm," so, how did you remove my starter, take it to Kennewick and get it rebuilt, installed on my truck, and me still be able to pick up the truck at 5pm?  Surely, we both know that it is impossible to do that amount of work in less than 2 hours; especially when you take a starter to Kennewick to be rebuilt/reman/etc.  This was my original point exactly; the whole repair job was questionable after the very first question asked was answered with deception by your shop. 
I asked for nothing less than honesty; money is a secondary issue.  The truck was never repaired correctly, and, by your own admission, done without proper authorization. Regards,[redacted]

[redacted],
I reprinted the invoice from history, our software tracks all phone authorizations and at the bottom of the invoice it states “Authorized by – [redacted], Date – 7/14/2015, Time – 3:29 PM, Initiated By – Shop,”  We rarely do work without authorization and as a result of this complaint will review the practice.  Let me explain, we have several customers that just want their vehicles repaired and hand us the keys and tell us to fix it and not bother them with the details.  The other occasion that I allow a vehicle to be repaired without authorization, is when a disabled vehicle is tying up a bay and we’re not able to reach the owner, if it is a low cost repair that keeps us from having to push a vehicle multiple times.  Again it is rare, the longer that I’m in business the more I understand why there are so many rules, I have a 3 C’s rule that I instill in all my employees it is, it must be good for the Customer, good for the Car and good for the Company.  If in fact we repaired your vehicle without authorization you are entitled to a full refund, that is the law.  I hope my small town shop never has to cross all our T’s and dot all our I’s, so to speak.
As to your concern about documentation there was a very detailed invoice created.  I cannot explain why you would not have a copy, as standard operating procedure we print it out and present it to you when we collect payment.  I can print it and mail it to you if you like, or E-mail it to you.
We have a very comprehensive quality control procedure that we perform after the repairs are completed but we cannot check every system on the vehicle.  It would be very unusual for any repair facility to test the cruise control and emergency flasher after a repair for no-start. In our phone conversations I offered to personally look into those items for you.  I’m not just an owner but a Certified Master Technician and have been for 30 plus years.
A very good point was brought to my attention, in this whole mess, we in the industry use the words new, remanufactured, rebuilt, synonymously and I will work on that.  Fortunately the Shop Management Software we use clarifies it on the invoice, as long as the materials are ordered electronically.
I do not understand, in this day and age, why there are consumers out there that think any business just makes up prices.  We use the #1 shop management software, it does all the calculations and pricing for us.  It bases everything on our cost of doing business and prices everything to allow us a small profit, currently less than 10%.  We are not a non-profit, we pay huge amounts, in taxes, every month for the privilege to be in business.   
My efforts to correct this problem have been extensive, internal procedures that I’m not going to go into detail here. I will say people like this ruin everything for everybody, it’s people like this that have forced society to overwhelm us with rules.  Yes, we make mistakes.  Yes our small town way of doing business is not for everyone. I’m sorry Mr. [redacted] had a bad experience with my shop.  We have grown so fast that I cannot monitor every job that comes through here, I do however randomly pull invoices and call customers to ensure this experience is infrequent or non-existent.
At this point I am closing this matter, as I feel there is nothing left for me to do, but be aware that you should hold yourself to the same high standards you expect from us.
Sincerely,
Jamie H[redacted]

I would not recommend West Richland Auto Repair to anyone I care about. I had them replace a bad coil pack on my ’98 Ford Expedition, which they did replace. I drove the SUV home and it appeared to run good. The next day my wife was driving the SUV and noticed steam coming from under the hood. When I came home from work there was a large puddle of coolant under my SUV. Previously this car had never leaked a drop of coolant. The mechanic that worked on my SUV failed to tighten a hose clamp that was directly above the coil pack that he had replaced. Boiling hot coolant had leaked all over the coil pack that West Richland Auto Repair had replaced and all over my garage floor. Thankfully my dog didn’t drink it and my car didn’t overheat. After a half hour I was able to tighten the hose clamp myself and stop the leaking so I could continue to drive it. Monday Morning, February 29 I called the owner of WRAR to tell him what had happened. He admitted that he had told his mechanic to tighten the hose clamp and obviously the mechanic did not take the time to tighten the hose clamp. I understand that ship happens and people make mistakes, I too have made mistakes therefore I was hoping when I called the owner that he would be apologetic and make things right. Unfortunately, this was absolutely not the case. He refused to do anything about it besides top off my coolant level. The bottom line is I paid $173 to have them change the coil pack that now is soaked with coolant b/c of their mistake and I have to buy a new one and change it myself. This simple job is now going to run our family $300. This has been very disappointing to see that this shop has very little integrity in the work that they put out the door.